Meow.

It's official! The Awesome Boyfriend now has a live-in girlfriend (me), and a cat (Moxie).



Here she is perched on the couch, which she's determined to be her favorite place in the new digs. She just made the trek here from my old house last night, and after a couple hours of tentative exploring and general slinking-around, she seems to be realizing that everything really is ok, and that we won't be subjecting her to any more carrier confinement in the near future. That, and I think she's still coming to terms with the Furnace Monster that she thinks is lurking in the basement.

Overall, though, yay, she's settling in well, and her arrival makes the Moving In process official. I still need to sort and move a lot of tangibles that are still over at the other house, but with Moxie here now, there's no affirmative need for me to stop by every day for food/water/litterbox/attention purposes.

On the knitting front, I'm about halfway through Surface in a white wool blend. By the end of the day, I'm likely to be done with the body, and will have the sleeves, collar, and button band left to go.

Also on the schedule for today, I'm hoping to go running outside. It's supposed to be reasonably comfortable (just under 40 F - not warm by any stretch, but not painful, particularly once the cardio gets going), and I need to get myself used to running outside before that race I've got coming up. My concern, though, is that I've been all sneezy and eye-itchy and miserable this morning. At 7:30 this morning, I was fine. By 9:00, I was a sniffly, blubbering mess. I've got my fingers crossed that whatever it is that's attacking my sinuses is indoors, and that running outside will actually make me feel better. In the meantime, though, it makes it difficult to find the motivation to actually GO running. Sigh.

Cue Chariots of Fire Theme

I'm signed up for a 5k road race in two weeks. I've done a few 5ks several years ago, and I actually signed up for this particular race last year but didn't end up running in it for various reasons. I'm determined to keep that from happening again this year. A couple months ago, I made a point to make my trips to the gym treadmill-focused without overdoing it, causing shinsplints, and bringing myself back to square one. I came to the realization yesterday that - uh oh! - this thing is coming up on the horizon alarmingly fast (which phrase, of course, has nothing to do with how I run). My mile-and-a-half or two-mile treadmill outings of late aren't going to cut it if I have any hope for not thoroughly embarassing myself at the race. I know I'm going to be among the slowest of the slow (always am!), but I'd like to finish the thing, and finish in a time that's at least not humiliating. For me, 33 minutes would be keep me out of humiliationsville. Half an hour would be fantastic, but I'm not sure if it's realistic for me, at least for this particular event.

Anyway, I went to the gym today and set out to get my muscles and psyche used to the idea of running for thirty minutes at a time at a slightly uncomfortable speed and level of exertion. It was great! So so so great. I mean, yeah, I got bored at various points and tired at a lot of other points, but the treadmill screen tally at 3.1 miles was a lovely sight. Today's "ok, I'll run a little while longer" moments brought to you by "Take the Power Back" by Rage and "Toxic" by Britney Spears (don't judge, it's up-tempo and very motivating).

Now I'm exhausted and a little hurty, but in the best possible way. Time to make a batch of broccoli-cheddar soup. Today's a good day.

Thanks, Uncle Sam!

I just finished and filed my tax returns for 2008, having gone through the federal prep process twice, thanks to Turbo Tax's policy of bumping you over to their "Basic" rather than "Free" edition without really notifying you until you're at the final we're-gonna-need-your-money-now screen. Anyway, it's done now, and my refunds should hit my bank account by direct deposit in a couple weeks. Hooray. Much needed, that.

At Last

Sure, it's a great song (whoever happens to be singing), but more importantly it describes the status - finished! - of the sweater I've been knitting for what seems like about seven lifetimes. Thermal is complete!

Blocking - nay, lounging - on the floor.

I affixed some buttons thereto, and Mr. Terrific offered to serve as photographer. I present, then (and can I get a drum roll)... Thermal! Finished! And wearable!

Yay!

The specifics:
Thermal, by Laura Chau (available through Ravelry).
Brown Sheep Nature Spun 100% wool, fingering weight
US size 3 needles

Again, I say, yay.

Antsy

The ridiculous amount of snow on the ground (aside: it's supposed to hit 40 degrees today for the first time in over a month, so cross your fingers for lots of melting) hasn't precluded my excitement for starting a garden. It'll be months and months before anything can be planted outside, but in probably a week or so I'll start some seedlings inside by a window. I've got a bunch of seeds leftover from last year so I'll start with those, early enough in advance to avoid being way too far behind in the event that they don't germinate.

I'm also looking-forward-like-you-would-not-believe to going to Senor Lovely's house tonight; he had the hardwood floors refinished over the weekend and we get to put the house back together starting today. He's seen the end result and said it looks amazing. Especially with three of the rooms having been painted so far, the cumulative difference from the original (will post pictures one of these days - wall paneling and orange shag carpet as far as the eye can see) will be remarkable, I suspect. Can't wait.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I am, of course, antsy to finish Thermal. Second sleeve almost to the cap shaping. Sigh. I'm NOT antsy to finish Francis Revisted, though, because I already have!



Just for kicks, I'll do a proper (and uncharacteristic) bloggerific description of the project:

Francis Revisited, also available as a ravelry download.
I used Moda Dea's silk/wool blend, which gave me somewhat finer gauge, and I made up for that by increasing all the stitch counts by 25 percent. Other than that I made no modifications, which for me is a feat in itself.

And a bonus photo for good measure! Yay!